As I’ve continued to sink hour after hour into **Arc Raiders**, I keep thinking about Paintball—a sport I’ve never spent any meaningful time with but have always been attracted to, especially as a fan of video games where you shoot other people. Specifically, I reflect on the origins of this kind of sport, in which human beings willingly participate in a simulation of violent survival.

In Paintball’s case, the game was sparked by an argument between a country boy, Charles Gaines, and a city boy, Hayes Noel. It became a way to settle a score between two friends: Who is better equipped to survive in the wild? It turns out the country boy fared better, encapsulated by an anecdote that almost perfectly describes a kind of interaction I’ve had multiple times in Arc Raiders:

> “Within about 20 minutes, I came around a big maple tree and Hayes was sitting on a rock. I walked right up behind him, put the barrel of the gun right on his neck and said, ‘Alright, I don’t wanna shoot you. Who wins?’”

This experience inspired the duo to gather a whole bunch of friends to play out more survival scenarios, equipped with nonlethal—but still painful—weaponry to defend themselves. According to Gaines, Paintball was an exciting game of “stealth, wood skills, and strategy. The idea of running through the woods, competing and symbolically surviving, those go way back into our genetic development.”

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I’m convinced **Arc Raiders** taps into similar primal instincts, lighting up a part of the brain that is both thrilled and terrified about entering a dangerous area to earn rewards, establish victory, and get out alive. Of course, Arc Raiders’ arsenal is way more diverse and, mercifully, free of any physical pain from getting shot. Losing, though? That sting is something you still have to learn to deal with.

If you’re up for the mental challenge of tolerating devastating losses baked into a thrilling set of third-person shooter encounters, Arc Raiders distills that distinctive combination into a single package like few other games out there.

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### What is Arc Raiders?

Arc Raiders is a **PvPvE extraction shooter** set in the late 2100s, following two world-ending events: a total ecological collapse that destroyed human civilization as we know it, and the arrival of deadly, autonomous machines called Arc that have made recovery almost impossible.

Nobody knows where these machines came from. They were beaten back once but have now returned with more sophisticated, deadlier designs. Humanity’s only option for survival is to live underground while brave pioneers, called Raiders, venture Topside to collect resources and manage what little infrastructure remains.

Players take on the role of Raiders, accomplishing quests related to the underground community Speranza’s survival, while grabbing items to craft weapons, gadgets, and restorative items.

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### Gameplay: Gathering and Surviving

The gameplay divides roughly into two parts: inventory management and combat survival.

**Inventory management** involves flipping through menus, breaking down found items, and combining them to build resources—essentially the “vegetables” you have to eat before the “main course” of shooting and survival.

The **other half**—the meat and potatoes—is the shooting and surviving necessary to acquire that loot and, crucially, hang onto what you’ve claimed.

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### Maps and Missions

Each match lasts roughly 15 to 30 minutes on one of four post-apocalyptic Italian maps. Your goal is to grab as much as you can and leave before the timer runs out—or before you get gunned down, whether by an Arc machine or another player looking to steal your gear.

If you make it back alive, you keep everything. Die, and your loot is left behind for others to claim.

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### The Social Dilemma: PvP isn’t Optional

Other players aren’t necessarily enemies. But when two un-partied players encounter each other, a sort of prisoner’s dilemma unfolds:

– Is this person a threat?
– Can they be trusted?
– Will you feel safe if you take your eyes off them?
– How should you split any loot you find together?

After spending significant time in-game, Arc Raiders has thoroughly won me over with its slow-paced, tactical third-person shooting and satisfying game of collecting *Things™*. But the social game between two random players has become the most engaging aspect for me.

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### Communication Without Words

I rarely use a mic, but thankfully Arc Raiders has an emote system with a decent range of options. This lets me get a sense of someone and decide if I feel safe traveling with them for the rest of the match.

All these unpredictable elements—the fluctuating loot, random Arc locations, and whether other players are friendly or hostile—combine to create a game engine that generates interesting situations and memorable encounters.

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### An Unsurpassed Experience

From escape sequences and tense sniper battles to close-quarters showdowns and stealthy infiltrations, Arc Raiders offers:

– Quests to hunt down tough Arc machines
– Spontaneous firefights fueled by whoever’s on the map and their agendas

Gone is the safety of a single-player campaign with checkpoints and forgiving game overs. Gone too are prescribed PvP rules and static win/lose conditions.

Here, it’s all live and in the moment. You, alone or with two squadmates, are literally fighting to keep what you’ve claimed. You don’t raise your gun just to look cool—you do it because it’s a tool for survival, with danger lurking around every corner.

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### The Primal Thrill and Stress of Arc Raiders

This game taps deeply into the brain’s fight-or-flight mechanism. For some, Arc Raiders will be too stressful. For others, it’s the thrilling pulse of third-person shooting straight from the tap.

After hours invested, it feels like the experience I’ve been training for by loving tactical shooters with survival elements for so long. The risk of losing your hard-earned loot triggers an adrenaline rush unique to extraction shooters—and **Arc Raiders** stands out as one of the best executions of the format.

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### Raiders of a Lost Age: The Extraction Shooter Experience

Arc Raiders offers a solid variety of maps to enter and exit, hopefully wealthier than when you arrived. The four launch maps depict post-apocalyptic Italy in different states and environments, each presenting countless stealth and combat scenarios.

Upon successfully extracting, you keep your loot and earn XP to spend on skill trees. You also gain **Cred** to progress “Raider Decks,” the game’s take on battle passes. Currently, only one free Raider Deck exists, offering cosmetics and items as rewards.

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### Exploring the Field

Out in the field, you encounter:

– Wide-open spaces littered with broken-down machines from past battles
– Abandoned buildings with winding staircases and long empty hallways
– Rust, peeling paint, and signs from a forgotten era

Weather conditions and changes in time of day keep the maps feeling fresh and varied.

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### Risk vs. Reward: Loot and Noise

Loot is everywhere, but breaking into locked caches is risky due to the noise and time required. You might find that elusive piece of rusted gear crucial for crafting or upgrading your weapons back home.

Quests lead you to important locations for gathering items or activating infrastructure, rewarding you with extra loot. These missions aren’t riveting on their own and often have vague directions, but this encourages genuine observation rather than mere waypoint chasing.

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### Immersive Quests and Encounters

For example, one quest asked me to find a room with a beautiful view of the map. That sent me exploring until I found a window that offered a pretty vista—exactly what the quest was after.

Though most quests boil down to “go here, grab that, flip a switch,” encounters with other players and roaming Arc machines make these objectives much more exhilarating.

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### Loot Hotspots and Player Conflict

Certain map areas hold better loot but attract greater danger—either from aggressive Arc patrols or from other players seeking those same rewards.

It’s a tense choice: shoot or sneak your way to survival?

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### Loot Quality and Customization

Items are color-coded by quality:

– Gray: common
– Green: better
– Blue: even better
– Purple: excellent
– Gold: GOAT (greatest of all time)

Purple guns, for example, are generally more desirable than green ones, and green crafting materials yield better items than gray.

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### Augments and Loadouts

You customize your Raider with an **Augment** that affects your shield type and inventory size. You always have a free option sufficient for most runs, including a gun with ammo. Unless you want a specific challenge, you’ll never start with just your fists.

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### Tactical, Weighty Combat

Combat feels deliberate and semi-realistic, reminiscent of **The Last of Us**, **Metal Gear Solid**, or **Resident Evil 4**, rather than fast-paced shooters like **Vanquish** or **Max Payne**.

The finite, essential loot and slower pace give it a survival-horror vibe—minus the screaming monsters, but with deadly machines to dread.

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### The Deadly and Fun Arc Enemies

Arc machines pose a significant threat: flying enemies, deadly weapons, and unpredictable patrols keep you on edge. Shooting them is satisfying—their metal parts fly off, dents appear on armor, and drone varieties spin and sputter when hit.

It reminded me of **clay pigeon shooting**—you have to aim carefully, shoot key parts, and understand enemy capabilities.

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### Intelligent and Unpredictable AI

Because the Arc are machines, they don’t repeat canned dialogue, and their patrol patterns feel believable as a continuous force trying to keep you off the map. Some AI behaviors were developed using machine learning, resulting in satisfying unpredictability.

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### Players: Allies or Enemies?

But your real threats are other players. They may be opponents or uneasy allies, sparking social dynamics that rarely play out the same way twice.

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### Forming Alliances and Sharing Keys

You may embark solo and find an ally en route. Perhaps they hold keys to unopened areas—great for loot and quest progression.

If you’re mic-shy, you can use a ping system to communicate inventory items without saying a word.

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### Memorable Encounters

Once, I teamed up with two players aiming to take down a Leaper, a deadly Arc. We dug in, defeated it, grabbed its loot, then fended off another team trying to ambush us.

In another instance, I joined a player on a quest to reach the Control Tower with a key I had. However, the door was blocked by a player-made Door Blocker. We broke it down, alerting an ambush of “Pops,” explosives that detonate when close. After clearing them, we secured the area and claimed the loot left behind.

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### Death and the Economy of Loot

You can lose everything when you die—guns and items have durability meters, too. But when your gear falls into others’ hands, it contributes to the game’s evolving economy; your trusty shotgun could become their chaos tool.

Lately, I’ve been gifting overflowing inventory gear to other players, hoping to aid their future battles.

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### PvP: A Pendulum of Conflict and Cooperation

Player interactions range from hostile firefights to fragile alliances. Sometimes you influence which way the pendulum swings; other times, you must dodge or flee.

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### Home Base: Inventory Management

Between matches, you tinker with your inventory in a grid-based system, breaking down items and crafting new ones. This is a time-consuming process requiring commitment.

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### The ‘Joy’ of Menu Diving

Rough estimates suggest I spend about a third of my playtime sorting menus—back and forth, managing items, combining materials.

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### Areas for Improvement

The menu is serviceable but could improve. Crafting requires switching to a separate workshop menu instead of a simple right-click option. There’s no way to lock or mark items to prevent accidental selling or destruction.

Some item descriptions are vague—e.g., a “Rusted Gear” says its only purpose is to be recycled, but it also upgrades your gun workshop.

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### What’s it All For?

Shooting, surviving, socializing, and crafting form satisfying loops that can theoretically run forever, as better loot becomes accessible.

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### Projects and Server Wipes

Your current ultimate goal is investing in “Projects”—building a caravan to send your Raider to unknown frontiers. This serves as a narrative wrapper for a mechanic common in survival games and extraction shooters: the server wipe.

Because loot and power can escalate uncontrollably, wipes act like controlled burns to reset the balance.

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### A Unique Wipe Mechanism

Unlike many games, Arc Raiders doesn’t enforce a strict global wipe schedule. Instead, you opt into it by sending off your character, their loot, skills, and workshop upgrades.

In return, you gain XP bonuses and skill tree points to invest in new progress.

At the time of writing, no one can yet send off their character—this will happen during a timed event.

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### Trials and Leaderboards

Weekly trials challenge you with objectives like damaging specific Arc or searching loot caches, letting you ascend publicly viewable leaderboards and compete globally.

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### The Story Ahead

The origin of the Arc remains a mystery in-game. Some speculate that humans escaped Earth before collapse and may be behind the Arc, possibly mining the planet remotely.

Certain quests hint the Arc behavior is changing, while NPCs focus on basic survival concerns for Speranza’s community.

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### Future Plans and Narrative Potential

The 2025 roadmap promises new Arc types and additional narrative content to unravel the mystery.

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### Conclusion

Arc Raiders naturally will evolve, but as it stands now, it offers:

– Eustress-inducing combat with real consequences
– Unpredictable player encounters
– Challenging AI threats
– Endless loot hunting and crafting
– Gorgeous, atmospheric maps brought to life by top-tier sound design

From the satisfying clang of metal to the terrifying digital chirps of Arc machines, Arc Raiders delivers a compelling experience that’s part survival, part shooter, and all adrenaline.

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If you have an appetite for hunting, gathering, and tactical shooter gameplay wrapped in a rich social experience, Arc Raiders is a standout title worthy of your time.
https://kotaku.com/arc-raiders-review-extraction-loot-shooter-embark-2000642198